[ininss]

I must be the stupidest human being walking on this planet for doing such a stupid thing.
I bought my pc a month ago.
I was about to change my graphics card for the first time, for a new one I had bought. I shut my pc off and just to play safe I thought I would shut the power on my PSU off too, before unplugging the power cable.
Since there was no black switch on the back (you know, those switches with a - O) I assumed the red switch must have been it so I flicked it and all I heard was a loud "POP" and a yellow flash.
I discovered that switch was used to change the voltage...
since I live in Europe I had switched it from 230V to 115V
Again, I must be the stupidest person on the planet, for not even having thought I had never needed to flick that switch EVER before, when I first bought it and plugged it in.
I didn't touch my PC after that.
Since it has a repair warranty I already took it to the store where I bought it and am awaiting for them to repair my pc...

Now on to the real question!:
Would the PSU manage to fry my other components? My PC was already turned off, beforehand, meaning no components were being powered at that time. Are they fine?

This post has been edited by bcappel: 13 March 2012 - 09:32 AM
Reason for edit: removed spam link

[compnovo]

ininss, on 12 March 2012 - 07:36 PM, said:

Now on to the real question!:
Would the PSU manage to fry my other components? My PC was already turned off, beforehand, meaning no components were being powered at that time. Are they fine?

Hi ininss,
Sorry to hear about your mishap, sometimes the learning curve with computers is painfully vertical. To answer your question I would say "maybe". You might get lucky and all, or at least most, of your other components escaped damage. I've had many power supplies die over the years and only once did it take out other parts, in this case the RAM and an "un-backed-up" hard drive (of course ). That's a technical term, by the way.

[LiveBrianD]

When installing things in the PC you should ALWAYS UNPLUG THE PC!!! When your PC is off, well, it's not completely off. The PC keeps a little 5V line running all the time, drawing a few watts from the wall, so that it can boot when you push the power button, as well as be woken via the network. It's possible that your components were killed that way. Power surges can kill PC components, and you set it so that the PSU was expecting half the voltage, so that's definitely a possibility here, though you could get lucky.

Edit: Dang it, you beat me to it compnovo! The technical term for power supply explosions is a "supercalifragilisticexpialidocious explosion". When your PC fails to boot, it's called a "Chuck Norris error". OK, just kidding about the last two.

This post has been edited by LiveBrianD: 12 March 2012 - 07:49 PM

[Rommel]

Sorry to hear.
We all do WTF things at times.
I hope your components will be fine.
One step at a time. Replace the PSU as you are doing and hope for the best.

What make is that PSU?
I have seen PSUs with no voltage selector being it can detect the voltage and automatically deliver whats needed on the secondary.
Can't say I've seen a PSU that did not have a rocker switch to shut it if.

Though Brian's suggestion is to unplug, which in your case is your only option, if a PSU has a rocker switch to kill the power, thats all I do being the plug maintains a constant ground.
Eigther way, once your PC has been removed from power and can't boot, press the power button, this will bleed off stored energy.

[coastie65]

Hi. As Rommel has stated, most PSU's that I have seen do not have the voltage selector these days, but are automatic. I'm surprised it went poof though as you actually switched to a LOWER voltage, although from 50 cycles to 60 cycles. Hopefully it was a case of the PSU taking the hit and not any other components which happens in most cases. Although I have the
- o rocker switch, I usually unplug it anyway.

[LiveBrianD]

Rommel, on 13 March 2012 - 03:09 AM, said:

Sorry to hear.
We all do WTF things at times.
I hope your components will be fine.
One step at a time. Replace the PSU as you are doing and hope for the best.

What make is that PSU?
I have seen PSUs with no voltage selector being it can detect the voltage and automatically deliver whats needed on the secondary.
Can't say I've seen a PSU that did not have a rocker switch to shut it if.

Though Brian's suggestion is to unplug, which in your case is your only option, if a PSU has a rocker switch to kill the power, thats all I do being the plug maintains a constant ground.
Eigther way, once your PC has been removed from power and can't boot, press the power button, this will bleed off stored energy.

The power supply in an old Dell I had had a voltage selector switch and no power rocker switch. Typically, if you wait a few seconds after unplugging the psu or hitting the switch on the psu, the machine will loose power inside (ex. motherboard lights turn off).

[LiveBrianD]

coastie65, on 13 March 2012 - 04:35 AM, said:

Hi. As Rommel has stated, most PSU's that I have seen do not have the voltage selector these days, but are automatic. I'm surprised it went poof though as you actually switched to a LOWER voltage, although from 50 cycles to 60 cycles. Hopefully it was a case of the PSU taking the hit and not any other components which happens in most cases. Although I have the
- o rocker switch, I usually unplug it anyway.

I'd expect a power supply to blow up there - if you feed the power supply more than it's expecting, KABOOM! If you feed it less than it's expecting, the PC will probably merely fail to start.

[coastie65]

LiveBrianD, on 13 March 2012 - 04:15 PM, said:

coastie65, on 13 March 2012 - 04:35 AM, said:

Hi. As Rommel has stated, most PSU's that I have seen do not have the voltage selector these days, but are automatic. I'm surprised it went poof though as you actually switched to a LOWER voltage, although from 50 cycles to 60 cycles. Hopefully it was a case of the PSU taking the hit and not any other components which happens in most cases. Although I have the
- o rocker switch, I usually unplug it anyway.

I'd expect a power supply to blow up there - if you feed the power supply more than it's expecting, KABOOM! If you feed it less than it's expecting, the PC will probably merely fail to start.

Yeah, I got a little twisted there. Moving it from 240v and 50 Cycles to 120v and 60 cycles would definitely get a big KABOOM alright.